Strap tensioner

ABSTRACT

A strap tensioner for gripping longitudinally spaced portions of a strap arranged in encircling relation to an object to be bound with the strap passing through a buckle, the tensioner includes a lever having longitudinally spaced, spring biased clamping dogs mounted thereon and arranged to urge a first portion of the strap towards the buckle and pull a second portion of the strap from the buckle to tighten the strap.

United States Patent 11 1 Le wis, Jr. 1451 July 3, 1973 I STRAP TENSIONER 1,402,232 1/1922 Howard o. 81/91 M ux 2,882,934 4 I95) a [75! #f' Lewis Chwmmga, 3,348,584 10l19r 7 140/912 enn.

i731 Assigncc: f i l f'i Inc-v East Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin rcrm' Attormry--David Rabin I22! Filed Feb. 7, I972 It'll Appl Nu 224,] II) '57] ABSTRACT U q 24/68 D 254/73 A strap tensioner for gripping longitudinally spaced l 5l] l lllllllllllllllll 1 1/00 2, 7/06 portions of a strap arranged in encircling relation to an [58] Fieid 254/51 56 73. object to be bound with the strap passing through a 24/68 R 71 D 68 buckle, the tensioner includes a lever having longitudi- 1 9 l M 9 140/93 nally spaced, spring biased clamping dogs mounted thereon and arranged to urge a first portion of the strap towards the buckle and pull a second portion of the [56] T E TS strap from the buckle to tighten the strap. 1,234,297 7/1917 Dean..... 254 73 10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 'PAIENIEDJUL' 3M 3.742.558

FIG.3 FIG.4

- tailed description.

' STRAP TENSIONER BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a device for tensioning straps while arranged in encircling relation to an object to be bound, and more particularly to a device by which a strap, after having one end attached to abuckle, has the other end pulled tight through the buckle by a lever arrangement.

The strap tensioner of this invention is primarily concerned with the tensioning. of non-metallic strapping such as polypropylene, nylon, rayon, polyester, etc., used in conjunction with conventional wire or plastic self-locking buckles.

The present practices of tensioning non-metallic strapping involve tools designed for steel strapping and therefore have the disadvantages of being relatively expensive, heavy, complicated and cumbersome.

' Briefly, the strap tensioner of the present invention includes a body, preferably formed of cast aluminum, and two strap clamping dogs pivotably mounted upon the body, one clamping dog being pivoted adjacent one end of the body and the other dog being positioned intermediate the body length. The tool isgenerally T- shaped thus providing a hand grip at the top of the tool. The two clamping dogs face in the same directions on the body for the purpose of pushinga first section of strapping to a buckle while pulling another section. of strapping away from the self-locking buckle. The clamping dogs open to opposite sides of the tool body to provide a balanced pull on the strapping.

One of the primary objects of the invention is the provision of a new and improved strap tensioner of simple and inexpensive construction.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a strap tensioner which is of lightweight construction while being ruggid, portable, and quickly and easily operated.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a strap tensioner which does not necessitate a length of strapping to be cut off from its coil prior to being tightened around an object.

One feature of the invention is the provision of a strapping tool which requires no bearing surface. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when considered in view of the following de- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1, the strap tensioner 10 incllides an elongated body 12 having a generally rectangular section 14 and a cylindrical section 16. Secured to the outermost end portion of the cylindrical section 16 is a handle 18' positioned- Such that the tensioner 10 has a generally T-shaped configuration.

The body rectangular section 14 has a pair of spaced,

jaws or dogs 20 and 22 pivotably mounted thereon. The

upper portion of section 14 is provided with a generally rectangular opening 24, extending transversely of section 14, which houses the dog 22. The dog is pivotably mounted upon a pin 26 and is biased into engagement with a flat surface 28 of section 14. A spring 30 includes a coil portion extending around the pin 26 and first and second end portions for engaging section 14 and the d0g20, respectively, for continuously urging the dog 22 into engagement with flat surface 28. The end of the dog 22 is provided witha series of teeth 32 which engage surface 28. A slot 34 provides access of the strapping 36 into the opening 24 and'between the teeth 32 and the surface 28.

The lower end of the rectangular section 14 of the body is provided with a recess 36 which houses a pivotable dog 20. The dog 20, which is substantially identical to the dog 22, is mounted upon a pin or shaft 38 and is biased by spring 40 into engagement with an angularly disposed portion 41 including bearing surface 42 at the lowermost end of the tensioner 10. The spring 40 is similar to spring 30 with a central coil portion encircling the shaft 38 and with end portions engaging the dog 20 and a ledge 44 within the recess 36. A slot 46 permits strapping to be inserted transversely of the tensioner to a position between the dog 20 and the angularly disposed surface 42. The teeth of the dog 20 are substantially parallel with the surface 42 of portion 41.

The lower end of the tensioner 10, including the outer peripheralvsurface of the portion 41 is curved to facilitate pivoting of the tool about its lower end, as

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the strap tensioner of the present invention illustrating the body having a generally T-shaped construction with spaced clamping dogs provided thereon; I

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view, with portionsbroken I away, of the .strap tensioner illustrating the clamping action of one of the clamping dogs; I

v the strap through the self-locking buckle.

shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. i

The rectangular-section 14 has an indentation or trough 48 which tapers from adjacent the dog 20 to the dog 22 and serves to guide or center the strapping 36 during the operation of the tool.

back through the top cl'amping dog 22. Therefore, a rotating action of the handlel8 and tool away from the buckle makes a point midway between the clamp dogs '20 and 22 a focal point about which the bottom dog 20 pushes the strap 36 to the buckle 52 and the top dog 22 pulls the strap away from the buckle 52. The strap 36 is held in the tensioner 10 by a locking motion of the clampdogs when the strap is placed between the teeth I of the clamp dogs and the surfaces 28' or 42 parallel with the teeth when the dogs are at rest, and the strap is pulled so'that the dogs tend to move towards the sur- In the operation of the tensioner, strapping material 36 is threaded through one side of a self-locking buckle 52, wrapped around a package 50 to be strapped, and the strap material 36 returned to the opposite side of the buckle. With the tensioner in a generally vertical position and with the indented portion 48 towards the buckle, the lower strap section 54 is placed between the teeth of the lower clamping dog and the surface 42. The bottom of the tensioner should be approximately nine inches from the buckle. With the top strap section 56 in the operators hand, the tensioner 10 is rotated towards the buckle 52 and the top strap section 56 is pressed between the top clamp dog 22 and the surface 28, as shown by FIG. 3. The tensioner then is rotated away from the buckle, as shown by FIG. 4, to tighten the strapping 36. If additional tensioning is de sired, the section 56 of the strap is held with one hand behind the tensioner 10 and the tensioner handle is moved with the other hand towards the buckle. The handle then is pulled again away from the buckle until the desired tension is achieved. The tensioner is removed by simply sliding the strapping 36 from under the dogs 20 and 22.

I claim:

1. A strap tensioner for engaging longitudinally spaced portions of a flexible strap arranged in encircling relation to an object to be bound and which passes through a buckle, the tensioner comprising, an elongated, unitary, rigid body member having a handle adjacent one end portion, a first strap clamping means provided at the end of the unitary, body member opposite said handle, and a second strap clamping means provided on the unitary body member in spaced relation to said first strap clamping means intermediate said handle and said first strap clamping means, said first and said second strap clamping means including discrete clamping dogs, each dog being individually pivotably mounted in spaced relation upon said unitary body member for movement relative to each other, and spaced clamping surfaces on said unitary body member for cooperating with said clamping dogs, and discrete spring means biasing each dog into engagement with a clamping surface.

2. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said first and said second spring biased clamping dogs is pivotably mounted upon a pin attached to said body member, each of said spring means having a central coil portion encircling each pin, each of said dogs being substantially U-shaped for receiving a spring means central coil portion.

3. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein said body member is provided with a pair of recesses, and the clamping dogs being mounted within the reces- 4.. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, said body member further defining slots communicating with said recesses for providing access of the strap to the recesses and underneath the clamping dogs.

5. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, wherein one of the clamping dogs engages a first longitudinal portion of the' strap extending to the buckle and the other of the clamping dogs engages a portion of the strap extending from the buckle, said clamping dogs being mounted to exert a pushing action on the strap extending to the buckle and a pulling action on the strap extending from the buckle upon displacement of said handle.

6. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, and further including an indentation between said first and said second clamping means for facilitating positioning of the strap upon displacement of the tensioner to tighten the strap.

7. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, the clamping surface of each clamping means being substantially parallel with the gripping surface of the cooperating clamping dog.

8. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 7, wherein the clamping surface of said first clamping means is angularly disposed relative to the clamping surface of said second clamping means.

9. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 7, wherein the clamping surfaces and said body member are of integral construction.

10. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein an end of said body memberadjacent said first strap clamping means is curved to facilitate pivotable displacement'of the tensioner relative to the object to be bound. 

1. A strap tensioner for engaging longitudinally spaced portions of a flexible strap arranged in encircling relation to an object to be bound and which passes through a buckle, the tensioner comprising, an elongated, unitary, rigid body member having a handle adjacent one end portion, a first strap clamping means provided at the end of the unitary, body member opposite said handle, and a second strap clamping means provided on the unitary body member in spaced relation to said first strap clamping means intermediate said handle and said first strap clamping means, said first and said second strap clamping means including discrete clamping dogs, each dog being individually pivotably mounted in spaced relation upon said unitary body member for movement relative to each other, and spaced clamping surfaces on said unitary body member for cooperating with said clamping dogs, and discrete spring means biasing each dog into engagement with a clamping surface.
 2. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said first and said second spring biased clamping dogs is pivotably mounted upon a pin attached to said body member, each of said spring means having a central coil portion encircling each pin, each of said dogs being substantially U-shaped for receiving a spring means central coil portion.
 3. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein said body member is provided with a pair of recesses, and the clamping dogs being mounted within the recesses.
 4. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, said body member further defining slots communicating with said recesses for providing access of the strap to the recesses and underneath the clamping dogs.
 5. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, wherein one of the clamping dogs engages a first longitudinal portion of the strap extending to the buckle and the other of the clamping dogs engages a portion of the strap extending from the buckle, said clamping dogs being mounted to exert a pushing action on the strap extending to the buckle and a pulling action on the strap extending from the buckle upon displacement of said handle.
 6. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, and further including an indentation between said first and said second clamping means for facilitating positioning of the strap upon displacement of the tensioner to tighten the strap.
 7. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 3, the clamping surface of each clamping means being substantially parallel with the gripping surface of the cooperating clamping dog.
 8. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 7, wherein the clamping surface of said first clamping means is angularly disposed relative to the clamping surface of said second clamping means.
 9. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 7, wherein the clamping surfaces and said body member are of integral construction.
 10. A strap tensioner as defined in claim 1, wherein an end of said body member adjacent said first strap clamping means is curved to facilitate pivotable displacement of the tensioner relative to the object to be bound. 